On the evening that the country was informed of its latest list of Padma awardees, Maharashtra witnessed a brazen and blood-curdling happening. Yashwant Sonawane, Nashik's Additional Collector, was burnt to death for standing up to the “oil mafia”.

Horror and outrage pervaded our newsroom, as the story unfolded, followed by indignation. Haven't we heard this before? IOC officer S. Manjunath was killed in 2005, after a run-in with the oil adulteration mafia. There was a similar feeling of outrage then too, and in fact, some of us were so moved that we voted into a television countdown for the “Indian of the Year” to get Manjunath voted. But he was not. Two years before Manjunath's tragic death in Uttar Pradesh, there was Satyendra Dubey who was killed in Bihar, when he questioned corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway project.

Tragic irony

Sonawane's death, on the same eve as the Padma awardees announcement, is a tragic irony.

The list is dominated by, among others, the head of a cigarettes-to-agri-products company, and another candidate who in his lifetime has sold some six businesses! But wonder why the Centre does not honour people such as Manjunath or Dubey, even if posthumously?

It is not often that we encounter people who stand up to corruption and not pay a bribe, especially when daily life throws up difficult situations — where the hindi euphemism of “ chai-paani ” (a payment as bribe) — does not elicit a protest, but resigned compliance.

A couple of years ago, a young Maharashtrian widow who worked as a domestic help did the proverbial pillar-to-post running around Government offices to get Rs 1 lakh-odd due to her, following her husband's death.

All the forms she had to fill were in Hindi or English, with no help offered to get it translated into Marathi. A strange situation in a State that is witness to violence in the name of local people.

The twist in her tale came when her employer, an “outsider” i.e. non-Maharashtrian, got involved and pursued the case through perfectly legitimate channels and ensured that the full payment came to the widow. Only to learn the next day, that a fellow-Mumbaikar in the Government office who dispensed the cash to the widow help, took Rs 100 payment from her — without rhyme, reason or receipt! The young widow paid up, fearing her Rs 1 lakh would get stuck again.

A scenario that could be true of any city in the country, where even young people (expected to be more idealistic) do not flinch from making a small payment to jump a train queue, and larger players pay to get clearances and approvals.

Against such a backdrop, all the more reason for the Padma list to have those ordinary people who showed extraordinary courage in rising above corrupt systems.

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